Chapter 34: Soul Shift

Author: Kurohitsuji
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n2086fk/35/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

I run into skeletons a few times, take them down without trouble, and reach the room I was aiming for.
The range going up means I don’t have to run, which is very convenient.
The hitch that power drops the farther it goes hasn’t changed, though.

“Now then. Ring, this room?”
“—Affirmative: there is residual mana of Ouka’s.”
“…Then, well, shall we go in.”

A little tense, I put my hand on the same kind of round thing that was at the entrance.
A gachari, and the door opens.

Inside it’s like a warehouse. All sorts of boxes stacked up.
It’s messy so it’s hard to tell, but the room seems fairly wide.
In among that, one iron bed is sitting there.
Lots of metal plates and cord-like things attached.
…What is this. Looks hard to sleep on.
But I feel like I’ve seen it.

“—Ouka. There is a designation on the metal-plate portion.”

Nn? The plate, this? There is something written.

Type-0 [killing Abyss]

…This is me, right?

“Eh. Then this bed?”
“—Yes. The residual mana is on this bed.”

Oh. I see, I was sleeping on this.
But, uumu… I feel less than I thought I would.
I feel like I’ve seen it, but it just looks like an iron bed.

I look around nearby, but nothing in particular turns up.
I just think, vaguely, so I was here.
…Muu. Can’t be helped. Shall I go home.

I go out into the corridor and head back the way I came.
I don’t know. Came all this way and no haul.
Well, what isn’t there isn’t there, but I feel a bit of wasted effort.
I sigh, haa, and Ring’s voice goes up.

“—Warning: Ouka, there is an abnormal mana reading.”
“Abnormal? What kind?”
“—It approximates Ouka’s mana pattern.”
“…Ha? Mine?”

Mana like mine, what. Meaning?

“—Mana pattern approaching. Please be cautious.”
“Nn, okay. Combat prep.”
“—Sakura-Drive Ready.”

“Ignition”

I scatter sakura through the ancient ruins and shift to a combat stance.

Right after I say it, I see a black mass.
The whole body is wrapped in black cloth, but long black hair shows through the gaps.
And that face looks like me. Only, the eyes and mouth are red.
What is that. Creepy.

“I’ll dance for you. Kindly exit early.”

Hands stretch out suddenly. I leap sideways on the instant, and a black round goes past beside me.
It shot. I see?

I run in, spin, smash a gun butt, and get a gun butt smashed back the same way, spinning.
We bounce off each other, fire as we part, and at the same time tilt our heads and dodge the other’s round.
…This thing isn’t just the look. The stance and the way it fights are the same too.

Spin, gun butt, kick, round, all the same timing.
If I shoot, it shoots.
If I kick, it kicks.
The power’s the same too. We bounce, turn, smash gun butts at the same time, and stop.

I-who-isn’t-me grins. A tearing mouth like a crescent moon.
A face that looks extremely mean-spirited. I’ll be careful too. Yeah.

But this, it looks like we’ll fight forever. Now then, what do I do.

“Ring, can something be done about this?”
“—Proposal: let’s change the way we fight.”
“Explain.”
“—The read destination of the records can be changed.”
“All right, I don’t get it. I’ll leave it to you, just do it.”

“—OK. SoulShift_Model: Vanguard. Ready?”
“—Trigger”

I murmur the words that surface in my head.
A gachari, and something switches inside me.

I reverse my grip on the handguns and pull the triggers.
Vernier acceleration, I blast away at a terrific force, and wrap mana on the reverse side of the muzzles.
I smash along the path I pictured, and it hits without being guarded.
All right. This works.

I accelerate with both hands and dance through the air, spinning.
I raise a storm of sakura-pink, re-accelerate with verniers.
I turn thrust into spin, and bash while turning like a top.
I smash the guarding arm, spin further on the spot, accelerate.
Aim: the center of the chest.

“Punch—through—it!”

The instant it hits, I release the compressed mana.
The released mana makes acceleration, and flings the enemy horizontal to the ground.

“…Whoa?”

My vision tilts, gurari.
No good, I’m spinning. I moved too wildly.
I put a hand to the wall, unsteady, and lean.

“—No hostile readings in the vicinity. Lost.”
“Copy. Combat over.”

I return the handguns to the holster. As usual, the pale-crimson mana-light fades little by little.

In the dizziness I look farther in: the one I flung has a big gouge in the chest.
As I watch it melts, dorori, leaves something silver, and fades into black dust.
Uge. I saw something nasty… I never want to see a corpse that looks like me again.

“Fuu. Still, what was that just now.”
“—Unknown: both the mana reading and the appearance were similar to Ouka.”
“Hnn. I’m curious, but if we don’t know, we don’t know. More to the point, what was that just now?”
“—I temporarily changed the read destination of the combat records.
—Combat resembling ‘Gale Lightning’ becomes possible.”
“Arei’s? You can do that?”
“—Possible: however, combat power on the level of the original cannot be expected.”
“I see… so Arei moves like that.”

Repeating max acceleration from a dead stop in an instant, blasting mana the opposite way to force a stop, taking centrifugal force from the spin, punching through with a weapon wrapped in mana.

Frankly it’s insane. I don’t want to do something that scary many times.

Like the first time I flew, my vision goes dark, and I spin too much and get dizzy.
The most dangerous one among the Heroes might actually be Arei.
That’s not movement a living thing is allowed to do.

“—Are you all right?”
“…I want to rest a bit. Can you search the area for monsters?”
“—Understood: no mana readings in detection range.”
“Thanks.”

I sit for a while until the swaying vision settles.

○○○○○○○○

I go look at what it left, and something like a card is lying there. I turn it over and look; nothing written on either side.
Another thing I don’t get.

“Ring, do you know what this is?”
“—Analyzing… it appears to be an information-recording medium.”
“Nn? What’s that?”
“—Something like a letter.
—There is damage, but once analysis is complete, a portion may be playable.”
“A letter? Hnn… I’ll leave it to you. It might be some kind of lead.”
“—Understood: continuing analysis.”
“I’m counting on you. Still, I’m tired. I want to go home already.”

And I want to eat something delicious.
The capital, and the inn mistress’s food, and so on.
…No good, I’m getting hungry.

“Ring, let’s go home quick.”

I start trudging toward the ruins’ entrance.